the wind
by Raye of the Sunshine
Summary: HitsuKarin friendship-ish. Spoilers for chapter 392. Toushirou is going through emotional turmoil, and gets hit in the head with Karin's soccerball. WARNING: blood. sort of.


Toushirou and Karin have not met yet in this one-shot, and this isn't exactly all romantic-y either; it's more of a friendship between them, though even that is pushing it. THIS IS A ONE-SHOT. I tried continuing it, but it came out all 'bleh'. If anyone wants to continue it or something like that, please ask me and I'll give you the other parts I've got and you can use them if you want. If you're continuing it, feel free to mess with their relationship.  
But I think it's fine the way it is. If you can't tell, there are spoilers for chapter 392. Not really beyond that, however.

DISCLAIMER. If I owned Bleach, Gin would come back. Because I'm delusional.

* * *

He sat, perfectly still, on the guardrail. He had been sent to the world of the living as a vacation. Ever since… _that_… he had buried himself under his work so much that eventually it got to the point that the Captain-Commander forced him to take a vacation in Karakura Town. In fact, he was staying once more with kind Orihime Inoue, a sweet, charming girl who never asked any questions about anything, for which he was grateful.

Subconsciously (or was it consciously?), he rubbed his hands on his pants, as if to wipe something off. Toushirou felt that his hands were permanently wet, and permanently red. He was silent, and Hyourinmaru was as well. The young man couldn't even look at his sword anymore. It was much too painful.

In a fluid motion, he stood up. Without another thought, he flashed away, down to the city, leaping across the ground and slowing down to end up in one of the parks. At a steady, sedate pace, he walked through the park. It was late afternoon in early April, so there was a bite in the air as it blew around him. Children played around him as he walked past, and sometimes he stopped to watch. Not for too long, though, because if he stayed everything would catch up with him.

Apparently he was too deep in his misery, because a ball hit his head. Hard. Toushirou lurched, but at the last moment managed to right himself. Turning, he saw a face that looked mildly familiar.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, stepping forward take her ball back from him.

Her voice had a certain ring to it too. And then, somewhere, it clicked. _She must be related to Kurosaki_, he thought. "I should have been paying attention," he told her.

"I'm Karin. Karin Kurosaki," she said, bowing slightly. "You're a shinigami, like my brother. And from what I can tell, a captain."

"How do you know about shinigami?" he asked, almost demanded. At least the familiarity of her facial structure and her voice were confirmed.

She shuffled, as if nervous. "I, um… I made my brother tell me what was going on. I'd known he's a shinigami for months, and then finally last month I made him tell me when he came home one night with more bruises than usual." Karin looked up. "But I've been fighting Hollows for some time now. I'd just never known what they were called."

"Ah." So Kurosaki had given in to his sister. "Well, you shouldn't be afraid for him. He won our war. Ichigo is one of our strongest fighters." If she hadn't known there was a war, she did now. However, her face showed no surprise, so if she was, she hid it well. Toushirou continued to walk, her falling in place beside him.

"I've seen you around before," she said suddenly. "Sometimes you just dash by, and a strong gust of wind follows, and sometimes you're walking very slowly, like you're watching life go by around you. Usually I'll see a flash of white when you run."

"Running is…" he was having difficulty choosing words. "Exhilarating," he decided. "Especially when you run in the air. You feel like you are the wind."

"I'll have to take your word on that. Unfortunately, I can't run through the air. I'm stuck doing that on the ground."

He didn't know how to respond, so he didn't. She fell silent as well. Karin made him curious; how did she feel about seeing ghosts? Was she afraid of death? Did she want to become a shinigami like her brother, or was she fine with not being one?

"I just realized. I don't know your name, Captain Shinigami." Karin laughed. She smiled at him, waiting for him to tell her.

"Toushirou. Toushirou Hitsugaya," he said quietly.

"A nice name. But with a long name like that, people must call you 'shiro' or something."

He stiffened. "Yes, that's true. But I don't like it." Toushirou hated it. How could she have even guessed what 'shiro' meant to him?

"Then I won't call you 'shiro' if you hate it so much. Though I guess having people not call you by what you want is annoying. I wouldn't know since my parents named me something nice and short." He hadn't missed her teasing tone of voice.

"How old are you?" he asked. She looked young.

"About twelve. I turn twelve in May."

"You're very young to be seeing spirits."

"Far too young; I know. But if anything, blame my brother. Before any of this shinigami mess, I could see only ghosts. Now I can see Hollows and fight them too. I'm happy to leave fighting those things to my brother, thank you very much."

So she didn't want to become a shinigami like her brother. _Thank goodness_, he thought, letting out an inner sigh of relief. Toushirou remained silent as they walked farther out of the park and into the back alleys of the city. Clearly she knew she couldn't talk to him out in the streets. Karin was smarter than the average twelve year old, it seemed. Or maybe it was just experience.

"You got some place to stay, Hitsugaya?" she asked.

"I'm staying at Inoue's house."

"Have fun with her cooking. If you want decent food, come to my house sometime. Yuzu would love to have guests." It was true that she had just met him, but surely her brother knew him and besides, the poor guy probably wanted something edible to eat.

"I may take you up on that offer." Orihime had the strangest taste in food.

She grinned, and continued to lead him through a maze of streets. It wasn't long until he found himself standing in front of a familiar pair of buildings. This was her home, and the clinic that was attached to it. "This is my stop, Captain Toushirou. See you around." Karin pushed open the gates and headed up the walk to her front door. She waved just before she opened it.

He stood there, silent, watching the door. Karin had appeared out of nowhere, and had quietly departed to get back to her own life. Would she be willing to talk to him later? Toushirou wasn't a talkative person, true, but he still figured having a companion while he was on this forced vacation would be pleasant.

Then the wet feeling came back. Frantically (as calmly as he could—it wouldn't do to appear frightened), he wiped his pants, his shirt, and his sleeves to rid himself of the feel. But it refused to go away. The blood reappeared almost as soon as he wiped it off, as if it were an open wound. It rolled down his arms, and the smell began to overpower him. He tried to walk forward, but his legs wouldn't budge. Toushirou began to see red everywhere, splattering the ground, the trees, the buildings, and the sky itself.

Her blood was spilling everywhere. He had forgotten for a few minutes about her, and she was angry with him. It certainly explained the blood being all over the place. Toushirou threw off his captain's robe, as the blood was seeping into it and drenching the fabric so that the red liquid dripped down into the pavement. But the blood still wouldn't leave. It had slid down his pants into his socks and sandals, and in an instant those were torn off. They were quickly followed by his shirt.

_Yet the blood was still there._ In a terrible shriek, he collapsed to the ground, the smell overpowering him. His scream caused a door to fly open, and he saw feet—red and bloody—run towards him. He realized that it was Karin who was shouting for a response from him. Slowly, he moved his eyes up to her and fainted, deaf to her cries and dead to the world.

* * *

Did you get it? The "blood" is the sun setting. (no, he didn't die) I wanted to capture emotional turmoil, like, how would Karin know his thing against 'shiro'? Fact: she didn't. He only _assumed_ she did.

Review, if you will.


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